Dear Steven and Vocalisters:
Thanks for your description of the performing music scene in Texas schools. I taught at West Texas State University for 9 years and I would agree with your description. It is also the description of the music scene that I left in Minnesota in 1978 (that scene has changed substantially since that time and not for the better).
Basically Texas does an excellent job of giving the musically gifted or musically interested student an opportunity to perform and to do so in performing organizations that are well supported and enthusiastically received. However, there is little opportunity for any student in Texas to learn about music or become experienced in this art if they are unable to become a member of a performing group or have no desire to do so. In short, the Texas school system is primed to support performing music groups but not to support music education for the non performer oriented student. The majority of students in Texas schools receive little or no music education except in selected pockets of substantial wealth. As performing groups go, they are unsurpassed. As music education goes, they are near the bottom of the list.
It USED TO BE that in Minnesota the emphasis on performance was almost equally matched by an emphasis on music education for all of the students. It was required by the Minnesota State Department of Education that every student must have courses in general music education through grade 8. It is my understanding that this is no longer required.
Consequently, when I moved to Texas I was stunned by the quality of performance and the amount of money given to performing organizations in the public schools. It was only later that I learned that this educational windfall was only available for the students selected for the performing organizations. Texas, evidently, felt that music audiences would find their own way. -- Lloyd W. Hanson
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